- Venezuela: Regime receives first revenues from oil sales to US regime
Source: United Press International
“Venezuela received $300 million Tuesday as part of revenues from oil sales to the United States, interim President Delcy Rodriguez said on social media. The funds represent the first tranche of a $500 million oil deal announced by President Donald Trump after the United States captured President Nicolas Maduro on Jan. 3. Rodriguez said the resources will be channeled through the national banking system and the Central Bank of Venezuela to ‘protect workers’ purchasing power’ and stabilize the foreign exchange market amid inflationary pressures.” (01/21/26)
- Nigeria: Ambush kills six regime troops
Source: ABC News
“Five soldiers and one police officer have been killed in an ambush in northwest Nigeria, the Nigerian army said on Tuesday. The attack occurred in Zamfara state on Monday, army spokesman David Adewusi said in a statement. … Northern Nigeria has been the hardest-hit part of the country, with a surge in kidnappings for ransom by gunmen across the northwest and north-central regions over the recent months, alongside an insurgency in the northeast. Boko Haram, Nigeria’s homegrown jihadis, took up arms in 2009 to fight Western education and impose their radical version of Islamic law.” (01/21/26)
- Steak ‘n Shake Offers Employees Bitcoin Bonus Program
Source: Bitcoin.com
“Starting March 1, Steak ‘n Shake will provide hourly employees at its company-operated restaurants with a bitcoin bonus of $0.21 for every hour worked. The BTC rewards will vest over a two-year period, allowing employees to collect their bitcoin after meeting the vesting requirement. The initiative, supported by Fold, reflects the company’s commitment to employee incentives while embracing digital assets.” (01/21/26)
https://news.bitcoin.com/steak-n-shake-offers-employees-bitcoin-bonus-program/
- Palestine: Three Gaza Journalists Murdered in Israeli Strike
Source: Barron’s
“An Israeli air strike killed an AFP freelancer and two other journalists in Gaza on Wednesday, the territory’s civil defence agency said, while the military said it struck ‘suspects’ operating a drone. Since October 10, a fragile US-sponsored ceasefire in Gaza has largely halted the fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas, but both sides have alleged frequent violations. … According to an eyewitness, the journalists were using a drone to take images of aid distribution by the Egyptian Relief Committee in the Gaza Strip when a strike targeted a vehicle accompanying them. Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas called the strike ‘a dangerous escalation of the flagrant violations of the ceasefire agreement.'” (01/21/26)
- Japan: Abe’s assassin sentenced to life in prison
Source: CBC News [Canadian state media]
“A Japanese court sentenced a man who admitted assassinating former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe to life imprisonment on Wednesday. The case has revealed decades of cozy ties between Japan’s governing party and a controversial South Korean church. Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, earlier pleaded guilty to killing Abe in July 2022 during his election campaign speech in the western city of Nara. … Yamagami pleaded guilty to murder in the trial that started in October.” (01/21/26)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/shinzo-abe-shooting-death-trial-9.7054161
- EU parliament votes to challenge Mercosur trade deal
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“EU lawmakers voted on Wednesday to challenge the European Union’s contentious free trade agreement with South America in the bloc’s top court, a move that could delay the deal by two years and potentially derail it. The European Union signed its largest-ever trade pact with Mercosur members Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay on Saturday. The agreement still requires approval before it can take effect. Opponents, led by France, the EU’s largest agricultural producer, say the deal will sharply increase imports of cheap beef, sugar and poultry, undercutting domestic farmers who have staged repeated protests.” (01/21/26)
https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20260121-eu-parliament-votes-to-challenge-mercosur-trade-deal
- South Korea: Former PM found guilty of insurrection, sentenced to 23 years
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“A South Korean court has sentenced former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo to 23 years in prison after finding him guilty on insurrection charges related to disgraced ex-President Yoon Suk-yeol’s short-lived declaration of martial law. Han was found guilty on Wednesday of abetting Yoon’s brief imposition of martial law and for failing to hold a lawful cabinet meeting, as required by South Korean law, after the decree to mobilise the military was ordered by the then-president in December 2024. … The former prime minister denied the charges against him, saying he had no prior knowledge of Yoon’s plan to impose military rule.” (01/21/26)
- Republicans Ask SCOTUS to Block California Re-Gerrymander
Source: US News & World Report
“California Republicans asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to intervene in a bid to prevent the state from using a new congressional map designed to give the Democrats five more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The state Republican Party and other challengers filed an emergency request asking the Supreme Court to block California’s new map, which was endorsed by voters as a counterweight to a similar redistricting effort in Texas aimed at boosting Republicans. A federal court on January 14 rejected the argument by the challengers that California illegally used race in redrawing the boundaries of the congressional districts.” (01/20/26)
- Meta lays off hundreds in Seattle area
Source: Seattle Times
“Meta is laying off 331 workers in the Puget Sound region as part of broader cuts to its virtual reality division. The Facebook parent company last week said that it was cutting about 10% of its 15,000-employee Reality Labs division as it shifts resources away from what it called the metaverse to wearables like smart glasses. … Reality Labs has been a key part of Meta’s postpandemic growth in the Seattle area. … Meta’s layoffs are the latest to hit the local tech industry over the past year of cuts, including some made by the company in October that hit its artificial intelligence teams.” (01/20/26)
- Greenland Is Not “Our Territory” And It Never Will Be
Source: Eunomia
by Daniel Larison“The U.S. has never needed to own Greenland to secure North America, and there is nothing to negotiate. Greenland is not ‘our territory,’ it never has been, and it never will be if the people of Greenland have anything to say about it. The president is a deranged revisionist who wants to ‘reclaim’ territory that has never belonged to our country. The president’s claim that his expansionist mania has something to do with security is a lie. Trump’s fixation on Greenland is akin to Smeagol’s desire for the Ring. ‘We wants it’ is the sole motivation behind this. The president is driven by nothing but gnawing greed. Trump said that he won’t use force to steal Greenland. No one should believe him when he says that, but it is no consolation when he is willing to use coercion and threats to intimidate the people of Greenland and Denmark.” (01/21/26)
- The Pressure Cooker of State Dominion
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Rudolph Kohn“If you happened to be a fly on the wall at a Libertarian National Convention, you might see this happen: Someone will take a microphone and ask for a point of information. Then, he will ask, ‘Is taxation theft?’ The Chair will then answer, ‘Yes.’ Then the convention-goers will laugh, and clap, and pass over this momentary interruption, and get back to deciding who they want to run for the positions at the head of this gang of thieves. Why expend so much time, money, and energy trying to gain seats at the top of this band of robbers? Because the alternative that every voluntary organization must offer is denied to them: exit. … of all the coercive acts in a state’s arsenal, I argue that the worst is dominion, because it makes all the others possible.” (01/21/26)
- Love liberty, not big government
Source: Eastern New Mexico News
“I’m saddened to discover how few people value liberty more than they hate other people and love big government. It wasn’t a surprise, but I still hate to see it. One faction hates gun owners and wants armed government employees to take their guns and kill them if they resist. Another faction hates people who dwell somewhere without government permission and wants armed government employees to kidnap, cage, and evict them. They are happy to see government agents kill these people and their supporters if either of them resist. They don’t realize how similar they are; both want to hand illegitimate power over you and me to government.” (01/21/26)
- Trump Can Prosecute Anyone Now
Source: The Atlantic
by Adam Serwer“A year into Donald Trump’s second term, the Department of Justice has become his private law firm, devoted less to the impartial administration of justice than to blackmailing, intimidating, and persecuting Trump’s foes while selectively enforcing the law to spare allies who break it. … The decision to ignore evidence that demands investigation or prosecution can be equally nefarious, as we’ve seen in Minneapolis, where federal authorities refused to investigate a masked government agent for shooting an unarmed mom in the face, and where half a dozen federal prosecutors have since resigned after being pushed to investigate the woman’s widow instead. These are all examples of the executive branch abusing its prosecutorial discretion. And thanks to Chief Justice John Roberts and the Supreme Court, Trump is likely to get away with it.” (01/21/26)
- California’s “Billionaire Tax” Could Bite Harder Than Advertised
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille“California’s potential adoption of a one-time 5 percent ‘billionaire tax’ on the net worth of high-value individuals is already sending wealthy residents fleeing for the exits. By one estimate, at least a trillion dollars has moved beyond the reach of state officials. But a new analysis says the tax may be even more onerous than advertised. Californians may need to get used to the sight of moving vans leaving the state.” (01/21/26)
https://reason.com/2026/01/21/californias-billionaire-tax-could-bite-harder-than-advertised/
- Can Congress subpoena a journalist for reporting a Delta Force commander’s name?
Source: Expression
by Jacob Gaba“On Jan. 7, the House Oversight Committee approved a subpoena for Seth Harp, an investigative journalist and contributing editor at Rolling Stone, for posting information about a Delta Force commander. Congress has broad authority to issue subpoenas. But it must show far more restraint when aiming them at journalists without any evidence of wrongdoing. … Paulina Luna of Florida’s 13th congressional district, who introduced the motion to subpoena Harp, said, ‘Putting a service member and their family in danger is dishonorable and feckless. Leaking classified information demands explanation and a criminal investigation.’ But publishing the news, even when the news contains classified information, is exactly the role of a journalist. And Rep. Luna did not cite any evidence that Harp broke the law to obtain the information.” (01/21/26)
https://expression.fire.org/p/can-congress-subpoena-a-journalist
- In light of harsh repression in Iran, the US should grant Temporary Protected Status to Iranians already here
Source: Niskanen Center
by Idean Salehyan“Over the past several weeks, protests have once again erupted across Iran, driven by a deepening economic crisis and broader demands for political accountability. In response, the Trump administration has issued strong rhetorical support for Iranian protesters and sharply criticized Tehran’s heavy-handed repression. President Trump and senior officials have repeatedly framed the demonstrations as evidence of the regime’s illegitimacy and brutality toward its own people. Yet there is a striking contradiction at the heart of the U.S. response. Even as the administration condemns Iran’s treatment of its citizens, it has suspended asylum hearings, maintained sweeping travel restrictions, and deported Iranian nationals from the United States. These actions undercut Washington’s professed concern for human rights and weaken the credibility of its support for protesters inside Iran.” (01/21/26)
- Trump Wants to Hit Us with a Huge Tax Hike for His Demented Greenland Dreams
Source: CounterPunch
by Dean Baker“Donald Trump is taking his demented dreams to a new level in his quest to take over Greenland. The man who whined over not getting a Nobel Prize and then followed Hitler propagandist Joseph Goebbels lead in accepting a prize awarded to someone else, has now decided he wants Greenland. Trump is now proposing to whack us with a $75 billion tax increase to put pressure on Denmark and the rest of the EU to give him Greenland. … Well over 90 percent of the cost of a Trump tariff is borne by consumers or importers in the United States, not by the exporting countries. When Trump starts yelling ‘tariff, tariff, tariff,’ he is yelling ‘tax, tax, tax,’ and we’re the ones paying it.” (01/21/26)
- Partitioning Iran Would Backfire Spectacularly
Source: The American Conservative
by Eldar Mamedov“ollowing the Islamic Republic’s brutal crackdown on protests this past week, an air of inevitability continues to surround the possibility of American military intervention. But what would such an intervention look like? Voices in U.S. and Israeli media are once again floating the idea of breaking Iran apart along ethnic lines. … This is dangerous nonsense, and America First advocates of realism and restraint in U.S. foreign policy must unambiguously reject it. It is also déjà vu, reminiscent of the political atmosphere that preceded the Iraq debacle — and it promises an even more catastrophic failure in a country four times the size of Iraq.” (01/21/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/partitioning-iran-would-backfire-spectacularly/
- These Schools Are Seeing a January Enrollment Surge
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Kerry McDonald“Microschools and other new learning models make it easier for dissatisfied students and families to shift to a new school midyear.” (01/21/26)
https://fee.org/articles/these-schools-are-seeing-a-january-enrollment-surge/
- The Importance of Medieval Rats to Pandemic Profit
Source: Brownstone Institute
by David Bell“The pandemic agenda, important to maintaining a healthy market for mRNA vaccines, is reliant on a general sense of fear and urgency to achieve success. Mitigating against this is the decline in infectious disease and dearth of recent naturally derived pandemics. With Covid-19 fading and looking worryingly unnatural in origin, the pandemic industry is developing an increasing interest in ancient history, when its offerings may have proven more useful.” (01/21/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-importance-of-medieval-rats-to-pandemic-profit/
- Overturning the Twentieth Century?
Source: Law & Liberty
by Robert G Natelson“Elite opinion aside, the Supreme Court has not aggressively attacked the bad precedents of the past century. Maybe it should.” (01/21/26)
- Quitting International Agreements and Organizations: The Wisdom Varies
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Galen Carpenter“Donald Trump has quit numerous international organizations. Many of his choices are good and long overdue. A few others, though, present real dangers to peace.” (01/21/26)
- How Markets Work: Hayek’s “Marvel” of the Market 80 Years Later
Source: Isonomia Quarterly
by Peter Boettke“F. A. Hayek is perhaps best known as the author of The Road to Serfdom (1944), a prophetic work issuing a warning about the totalitarian tendencies of socialist economic planning. Socialism, Hayek argued, was both incompatible with liberal democracy and material progress and well-being. A critical step in his argument was that socialism could not replace the market economy not only in its efficient use of resources, but in stimulating creative innovation and technological change that enhanced the human condition. To economists, however, Hayek is most appreciated for his article further explaining the argument in the critical step published a year later – ‘The Use of Knowledge in Society.'” (01/21/26)
- Only parents should decide if their kids use social media
Source: spiked
by Ella Whelan“Discussions about children’s online experiences and the dangers they might face are nothing new. But in recent months, officialdom seems to have become increasingly concerned about protecting children’s ‘wellbeing,’ rather than protecting them from ‘harm.’ So instead of concerns about children seeing extreme content or writing nasty things about each other, the current focus is on the amount of time kids spend on social media. … This focus on the duration of kids’ social-media use is revealing. It shows the extent to which calls for a ban are rooted in a lack of confidence in parental authority – a lack of confidence, that is, in parents’ capacity to control their kids’ behaviour and limit the amount of time they spend on social media.” (01/21/26)
- When Production Isn’t Production and Prices Aren’t Prices
Source: The Daily Economy
by Antón Chamberlin“Many debates on economic topics hinge on a set of familiar words: production, prices, costs, value. These terms appear constantly in political speeches, news articles, and policy discussions. Yet they are rarely used with much precision (at least where academic economists are concerned). As a result, people often talk past one another while believing they are in agreement — or disagreement — about the same thing. Confusing colloquial meanings with technical definitions can lead to deeply flawed conclusions about how markets work and what governments can realistically accomplish.” (01/21/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/when-production-isnt-production-and-prices-arent-prices/
- The new Trump Doctrine: Strategic domination and denial
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Joanna Rozpedowski“The US appears intent on using discrete military action while restricting rivals’ access to key regions, resources, technologies, and governance mechanisms.” (01/21/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-doctrine-spheres-of-denial/
- With Trade Deal, Canada Bets on China
Source: Foreign Policy
by James Palmer“Last Friday, Canada and China struck a preliminary trade deal that would open the Canadian market to Chinese electric vehicles and lower Chinese retaliatory tariffs on key Canadian agricultural exports. … The deal will undoubtedly revive accusations of malign Chinese influence and Canadian perfidy from U.S. right-wingers and China hawks. But a year into Trump’s second term, moving closer to Beijing makes perfect sense for Ottawa, as well as the European Union. … Put bluntly, a relatively rational autocracy with limited, stable foreign-policy goals located an ocean away may seem preferable to a country run by an erratic autocrat next door. In this respect, the ongoing Greenland crisis has given Canada’s leaders brutal clarity about the United States as it is, not as it was or as they want it to be.” (01/20/26)
- We’d Have Been Committed for Predicting Half of What Trump Has Done
Source: The UnPopulist
by Jacob Grier“Today marks the one-year anniversary of Donald Trump’s return to the presidency. We thought it would be the perfect occasion to look back at some of the low-lights of Year 1 of Trump 2.0 and imagine the diagnosis that the self-proclaimed cool heads would have ascribed to us Trump worrywarts if we had predicted even a fraction of what His Orange Eminence and Wannabe Nobel Peace Laureate went on to do. Actually, we know their diagnosis because they were not shy about telling us.” (01/20/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/wed-have-been-committed-for-predicting
- “Might Makes Right” Will Not Be Effective, Even in the Western Hemisphere
Source: Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland“‘The strong do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must’ is a quote that has come down through the ages from the Greek historian Thucydides’[s] History of the Peloponnesian War, written in 416 BC. It has come to encapsulate the ‘might makes right’ philosophy in international relations and is embraced by some in the realist school of foreign policy. Such realists are mostly right about how the world still works, but have a PR problem in today’s milieu of woke platitudes in international relations. Despite the fact that the balance of power and spheres of influence still shape the worldview of the vast majority of global leaders, some of these strong countries usually dress up the reasons for their military interventions in terms of democratization, humanitarian ends, or their national security.” (01/20/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/01/20/trump-greenland-foreign-policy/
- Rising, 01/21/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave delivers radar on why California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other Dems are avoiding questions about trans athletes in sports.” (01/21/26)
- Reasonably Optimistic, 01/21/26
Source: Washington Post
“What it will take to fix American policing.” (01/21/26)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/impromptu/what-it-will-take-to-fix-american-policing/
- Reason Interview: Freddy Guevara
- The Illegal News with Sarah Longwell, 01/21/26
Source: The Bulwark
“Trump Wants to Use the Military Against Americans (w/ Asha Rangappa).” (01/21/26)
- Underthrow Podcast, 01/21/26
Source: Underthrow
“Burn Down the Fed?” (01/21/26)
- System Update, episode 568
Source: System Update
“New Laura Poitras Documentary: On War, Propaganda & the Corporate Media.” (01/20/26)
- Fountainhead Forum, episode 409
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Susan Baughman on being an AirBNB host and an AirBNB guest.” (01/20/26)
https://rumble.com/v74mlok-ff-409-susan-baughman-on-being-an-airbnb-host-and-an-airbnb-guest.html
- Right Now With Perry Bacon, 01/20/26
Source: The New Republic
“Why Trump Is Losing Ground Even in This Deep-Red State.” (01/20/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/205447/trump-losing-ground-even-deep-red-state
- LPA Solidarity Stream, episode 13
Source: LP Alliance
“Alex Flores and the First People’s Role in the Libertarian Party.” (01/20/26)